ShoeGuy: Very Studly

Maybe you’re one of the growing number of runners who go all-surface, all the time. Two roads diverge in the woods, and instead of taking the one less traveled, you take neither, opting instead for the woods. One mile you’re on asphalt, the next, it’s grass, and before you’re done, it’s mud, gravel, rocks, sand, concrete, whatever.

What if I told you there was a shoe that could hang with you through all that? A shoe that is as soft on pavement as a puppy’s tummy, as stable off-road as a John Deere, and with traction that would make mountain goats envious. And what if I told you the technology responsible for all these wonderful things is so simple, any shoe designer from any shoe company could use it? In fact, most of them have.

You’d not only want to buy such a shoe, you’d wonder why more shoes don’t have this amazing device. Me, too.

It’s studded outsoles. Tough chunks of old-fashioned hard carbon rubber that have been around for years. They’re boring, ugly, and totally lacking shelf appeal, but they work.

Outsole studs come in all shapes: round, square, triangular, diamond, and even trapezoidal (no doubt an effort at shelf appeal). They come in all sizes, too, because this is one area where size doesn’t matter. Big studs work fine and small studs make up in quantity what they lack in size. They all work, regardless of shape, size, or logo.

Studs absorb shock on hard surfaces by deflecting up into the midsole with a gentle bungee-like action that slows and reduces impact. Jump off the road onto a trail and the studs will dig into the ground like tiny bulldozers to help your feet stay upright and stable. This footstrike excavation also makes for great traction, whether you’re going uphill, downhill, or across the hill. Back on pavement, the studs grip even in the rain by allowing water to flow around them, under the shoe.

If it’s total surface versatility you want in a running shoe, it’s a studded outsole you want on the bottom.

Studs are sometimes called waffles, a Nike word coined by Bill Bowerman, as legend has it. Inspired while eating breakfast one day, he came up with the idea of square studs molded in a waffle iron. While Swoosh geeks may think Bowerman invented this outsole concept, he only gave it a bit of romance. Studs probably emerged soon after the first time a runner slipped and fell.

The origins likely go back to the efficiency of the track spike blended with the versatility of cleated turf shoes. And you thought soccer didn’t have a reason to exist. Adidas, known better for soccer boots than running shoes, drew inspiration from soccer outsoles in designing many of the exotic stud patterns on their trail running shoes. The outsoles were dubbed "Traxion" for good reason, and were a big improvement over an earlier studded design on the old Marathon Trainer patterned after tiny adidas logos. Unimaginative to be sure, but even they worked, as evidenced by the long tenure of that shoe.

One innovation regarding studded outsoles that Nike can take credit for is the tiny nipple in the center of each waffle. It’s too small to affect traction much, but it wears away quickly, revealing the footstrike pattern early in the life of the shoe. Should a biomechanical issue arise after a few dozen miles in a new shoe, that pattern can help your ShoeGuy find a solution.

After several hundred miles, dead studs tell an even more dramatic gait-pattern tale when it’s time to replace the shoes. Your ShoeGuy can read those tracks like Daniel Boone chasing his next meal to assess how well the shoes worked and determine which shoes might best serve you next.

OK, so there are downsides to studded outsoles. Yes, they sometimes collect mud on wet trails, but that’s why we have streams in the woods and garden hoses back at the house. Run them hard and dirty, put them up clean and wet, and they’ll be fine.

And, yes, so what if studs are typically a bit heavier than flatter outsoles made of soft blown rubber? Weight does indeed matter in running shoes, but it’s not always the big issue, even in racing flats.

While most elite runners will do best in the lightest weight, stud-free flat they can find, some will go even faster in a flat with low-profile, road-gripping studs. When you see an elite wearing a studded cross country flat in a road race, that’s why. Speed efficiency is affected by traction as well as shoe weight.

As much as I like studded outsoles on running shoes, there are situations, I’ll admit, when smoother outsole patterns will do better. They can be made of blown rubber, some of today’s exotic outsole synthetics, or a combination. After all, outsole designs and materials play a big role in shoe cushioning, shoe life, shoe stability, heel-to-toe transition, and of course, traction. No single design or material will handle all of that on every model.

But the world could use more studs, at least on running shoe outsoles. And not just for trail shoes. They’ve always been great on the roads, and always will be, but especially if you like to mix your road training with the occasional hill, dale, and dusty or even muddy trail. Wander where you will. Those aggressive, versatile hard rubber studs will get you there and back.